Surgical appliance.



M. R. CUTTING.

SURGICAL APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.1B, 1907.

Patented Nov. 24, 1908.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

attmncqd M. R. CUTTING. SURGICAL APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION rum) rm. 1a, 1907.

904,760. Patented Nov.24, 1908 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Wit" eases MARTHA R. CUTTING, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

SURGICAL APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 24, 1908.

Application filed February 18, 1907. Serial No. 357,922.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTHA R. CUTTING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King, State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Surgical Appliances; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to surgical appliances and more particularly to that class which are designed to eliminate the habit of mouth breathing while sleeping and to consequently prevent snoring.

My device is designed for application to the head of the user and includes means for holding the lower jaw raised against the upper jaw and for holding the tongue down and against movement upwardly to the roof of the mouth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view showing my device in use, Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the device, Fig. 3 is a plan view of the tongue engaging member of the device and showing the manner of engaging one of the head straps therewith, and, Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a modification of the invention.

Referring more specifically to the drawings my invention is shown as comprising straps 5 which are designed to extend over the top of the head of the wearer and are connected at their ends by means of a buckle 6. A second strap 7 is secured at its ends to the first mentioned straps and passes around the back of the persons head.

A chin support 8 which is formed preferably of cloth is connected by means of straps S and 9 which are secured to it, with the end of the strap 5, this connection of the straps 8 and 9 and the strap 5 being preferably made by means of buckles 10 so that the connection may be an adjustable one. The construction just described serves to support a persons lower jaw while sleeping and thereby prevent mouth breathing.

In order to prevent snoring my device includes a tongue engaging element which is preferably formed of aluminum wire or any other light wire which may be found suitable for this use and the wire is so bent that it forms a bowed portion 11 to which is hinged the ends of a bowed spring wire 11 which is adapted to extend into the persons mouth and to firmly hold the tongue against upward movement. At its end the wire 11 is bent to form loops 12 for the passage of the strap 8, the wire intermediate the bowed portion 11 and the loops being bent as at 13 so as not to closely confine the lower jaw of the person and annoy him. Formed integral with the member at the ends of the bowed portion 11 are fingers 14 which are designed to extend under the lower lip of the person and are provided at their ends with small knobs 15 which prevent injury to the lip. These fingers 14L serve effectually to prevent dropping of the lower lip.

WVhat is claimed is- 1. A device of the class described comprising a head gear and a tongue and lip holding device carried thereby, the said device comprising a bowed supporting portion formed with rigid lip engaging fingers and a U-shaped resilient tongue holding member pivoted at its ends to the bowed supporting member and extending normally in a direction opposite to the direction of extent of the lip engaging members.

2. A device of the class described comprising a head gear and a tongue and lip holding device carried thereby, said device comprising a bowed supporting portion formed with integral lip engaging fingers which are curved inwardly in the direction of each other and which have ball ends, and a bowed resilient tongue holding member hinged to the supporting member rearwardly of the lip holding fingers.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

MARTHA R. CUTTING.

Witnesses:

FRANCES L. CLARK, D. D. CUTTING. 

